Pray Without Ceasing

One of our four themes for 2022 is this, pray without ceasing. In Luke 18, the Lord taught a parable to the effect, he says in Luke 18 verse 1, that we ought always to pray and not to lose heart. Paul writes in Ephesians 6, 18, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. Colossians 4 verse 2, continue steadfastly or be devoted in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Jude verse 20, but you beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. And then 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, Paul says, pray without ceasing. Followers of Jesus are to pray. We're to pray at all times. We're to pray without ceasing. We're to pray in the Spirit. In our study of Matthew, we read the words of Jesus that the house of God was to be a house of prayer.

And one of the vital characteristics of a vibrant growing Christian and a healthy and growing church is a vibrant life of prayer. Samuel Chadwick writes, Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that our enemy trembles when we pray? Now, at Calvary, I'm very thankful for so many of you who pray. But my challenge is that more and more in 2022, we would be a praying church, that we would pray without ceasing. Now, prayer is difficult for us, isn't it? As a pastor, it's much easier for me to get people to serve, to sing, to join a committee, to do Bible study. In fact, almost to do anything, it is easier to do that rather than get people together to pray. The Sunday evening, we were to have a special prayer meeting. I wanted us to get together in prayer, but because of COVID, we've not done that. But I thought, I wonder how many people are going to come on a Sunday evening to a prayer meeting.

People would say, what are you doing? Well, we're praying, but what else is there? And there's prayer. I wonder how many of us would have come. George Verver of Operation Mobilization, after the privilege of meeting him, I went online this morning and he is still a champion for missions, and he's also a great man of prayer. Tim and I, we served together in Michigan, and George Verver came one Sunday to preach.

He was wearing a waistcoat with the world printed on it, and he's really on fire. And I thank God for men like George Verver, who is committed to missions in Operation Mobilization, but also to galvanize us to prayer. Here's what George Verver says, the lack and neglect of the prayer meeting is, I believe, one of the greatest mistakes in our Bible-believing churches. Such deception by Satan represents a far greater enemy than liberal theology or cults.

That's quite a statement, isn't it? Where has the prayer meeting gone in our churches? I was brought up, as many as you were, that we had a prayer meeting. And people literally got down on their knees to pray. So, during 2022, this is a priority.

This is one of our themes. This is to be throughout everything we do that we are to pray without ceasing. Think of the power of God unleashed through prayer. 2022 at Calvary and beyond will be a year of great blessing, a year of growth, a year of power, if we are a praying church. Now that begins with you and me praying as individually.

Here's Charles Spurgeon. If God be near a church, it must pray. And if He be not there, one of the first tokens of His absence will be a slothfulness in prayer. We are to be a church of prayer. We are to pray without ceasing. Now let's open our Bibles to Acts chapter 1. We're going to see that praying without ceasing is essential for Calvary Church to flourish. Prayer is essential if this church, if Calvary Church, is to flourish. And I want to look at the book of Acts very quickly and to see this, that the early church in the book of Acts was characterized by prayer. The early church prayed. Acts chapter 1 verse 12. Verse 11, the Lord ascends to heaven. Then they, the disciples, return to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying.

Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with a woman and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers. Notice the unity.

They came with one accord. Notice the perseverance. They were continually devoting themselves to prayer.

Notice the diversity. They did that along with the woman. Prayer was central. Acts chapter 2, the great day of Pentecost. Acts chapter 2 verse 41. Peter is preaching.

What a response that is. They who received His word were baptized. And what I did that day about 3,000 souls. Acts 2, 42. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Prayer is going to be central to the New Testament church. Notice that they were devoted to various things, including prayer. Devoted to prayer.

Now, what does it mean to be devoted to something? I met recently a young man, and at the time I was with him, an hour or two, he must have mentioned that he worked out in the gym. He must have mentioned it about five or six times. In fact, he wanted me to see his big biceps. I hid mine for obvious reasons, but he goes to the gym and he works out.

Does it several times a day. And he's obviously devoted to working out. I mean, why he would want to do something so sweaty, I don't know. Some of us are just naturally athletic, but he is. I mean, yeah, did you really think I was going to go with him? I mean, he killed myself.

Are you kidding? But my point is, he was devoted to working out. That was an integral part of his life, and I admire his discipline for doing it.

For some reason, he felt he needed to do that, and no doubt to look at himself in the mirror and to admire his big muscles. Devoted to working out. There's nothing wrong with that in a sense.

It's a matter of balance, isn't it? But I thought, am I, are you devoted to prayer? There are certain things we do which are hobbies. There are certain things we do in life which are not central to our life. You may occasionally have a game of golf. You may occasionally work out.

You may occasionally go for a walk. But to be devoted to something means it is central to who you are. Chapter 4 of Acts. Acts, chapter 4, verse 29.

Here the church is being persecuted. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretched out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

I love that. What transformed these men who were so fearful prior to the resurrection of Jesus Christ? They saw the resurrected Christ. They believed in the message. They devoted themselves to prayer. And the very place where they were praying was shaken.

I must say I've never experienced that. I've heard in revivals of that actually happening. Such is the power of God coming in people, the filling of the Spirit as we read here.

And they continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Why are we not bold in sharing the gospel? Why are we often so afraid? Why are we so fearful?

Why are we so lethargic sometimes? Answer, we're not devoted to prayer. Acts chapter 6, Acts chapter 6, verse 42, there's a problem in the early church, and the apostles are appointing people to take care of it. We would call them deacons. Verse 42, but we will devote ourselves, the apostles are saying, to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Spirit, and these other wonderful brothers. Then verse 6, these they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

What happens? And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to their faith. Here it is, man and woman of prayer, devoting themselves to prayer with the result that the word of God is spread.

Supernatural result. The word of God continued to increase. Pastor Pyle was praying for God's blessing in 2022, that we would be a light.

How wonderful. That the word of God would increase in 1922 through the ministry of Calvary Church. That will not happen unless we're devoted to prayer. Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12, here's one of the apostles, James, killed by the wicked Herod. Acts 12, he killed James, the brother of John with his sword, and when he saw that it pleased Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Here's Peter in prison, verse 5. So Peter was kept in prison, but Aaron's prayer for him was made to God by the church. When you want that to happen, you go on a missions trip, and you're imprisoned. We back at Calvary just say, oh, too bad.

We'd hope he is released sometime. No, the early church, one of their leaders is placed in prison. What are they doing?

They are praying. And Peter is sleeping between two soldiers. He's bound with chains.

How is he going to be released? Now when Herod was about to bring him out on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and centuries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and the light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up saying, get up quickly, and the chains fell off his hands. Released by an angel.

But look at verse 12. When you realize this, Peter is freed. He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were doing what? Praying. Praying. Here's Peter in prison, and the church gathers together, not individually, they gather together for prayer. And this wonderful miracle happens that Peter is released. Verse 24, in spite of the persecution by Herod, what happens? The Word of God increased and multiplied. Prayer.

Chapter 13. Acts 13, verse 1. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menaen, a lifelong friend of Herod, Atatrach, and Saul, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

What's happening? Here are Barnabas and Saul. They're going to be commissioned as missionaries. The church at Antioch comes, lays their hands on them, prays and fasts. That's a good start for a missionary enterprise, isn't it? The church praying for missionaries. Two of the missionaries, Paul and Silas, go and end up in Philippi. They preach with boldness.

Why? Because they're filled with the Spirit of God. They're arrested. They're put in prison.

And what did they do in prison? Luke records that they were praying and singing. So when Tim and I go on a mission trip and we're arrested, I'm going to pray and he's going to sing. The two of them, praying and singing. Not overcome by self-pity, not grumbling and complaining, but praising God and praying.

I take time to go through a little bit through the book of Acts. You can read it yourself and see the importance of prayer. What happens when a church is devoted to prayer? The power of God is released.

Souls are saved. Persecution does not stamp out the gospel. We're so afraid, aren't we? People are worried about what's going to happen in the United States to the church. When the church is weak, we should be concerned. But do we believe that the power of the gospel is greater than any persecution?

Of course it is. This church believed it. They were persecuted. Some of them were killed. Some of them were martyred. But the gospel is not bound and continued.

Why? Because there was a church on their knees in prayer. Praying without ceasing is essential for spiritual victory. 2021 has been a difficult year, hasn't it? Do you feel that you were defeated spiritually? Were you depressed? Was your spiritual life stale? Were we as a church just going through the motions?

What was happening? Praying without ceasing is essential for spiritual victory. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6 where we will see this. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Verse 18, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to the end, to that end, keep alert, with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. And also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Incidentally, notice the correlation between prayer and the Word of God being proclaimed boldly. Paul, the mighty apostle, is asking for prayer so that the Word of God may be proclaimed boldly. Central to Calvary Church is the text, the theme verse, for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. We believe in the inspiration of Holy Scripture.

We believe in the gospel. But if that gospel is to be proclaimed boldly from this pulpit in your lives, through our missionaries, through live stream, through verdict, through social media, through all that we do, it must be bathed in prayer. Now, as we go into 2022, we as a church and individuals have to put on the armor of God. Now, the armor of God must be put on with prayer. Prayer is not an additional piece of the armor of God, but prayer is foundational to using all of the armor of God. In this spiritual warfare, did you notice what I read in verse 12 where our fight is? In this spiritual warfare, there must be prayer from beginning to end, praying without ceasing.

Brothers and sisters, I'm asking you, I'm pleading with you to pray without ceasing. Here at Calvary, we put a high premium on biblical preaching and teaching, and rightly so. We put a great emphasis on worship, which brings glory to God, and rightly so.

We have many programs for different ages and groups and situations, and rightly so. We strongly believe in having true biblical doctrine, and rightly so. But all of these are not sufficient in the spiritual warfare.

Our enemy is very devious. You may have great knowledge of this book. You may impress those in your life group or your Bible study by the verses you know and the verses you can even memorize. You may have a good understanding of all of the pieces of armor of the armor of God, and yet still be devastated by the enemy. You say, how is that? Because you have not been on your knees in prayer.

Putting on this armor of God is not a mechanical exercise, but rather is appropriating all of the resources of God as we pray, verse 18, at all times, says Paul, in the Spirit. You say, John, you're a pastor. You can spend all your time praying, but I'm a busy person. I'm a mother at home. I've got these children. I'm out in the workforce.

I'm on my computer working at home all day. I can't be praying without ceasing. Oh, yes, you can.

What is this? It means living in the presence of God. Let me ask you this question. Do you enjoy God? Do you enjoy being in the presence of God? Yes, when we come in corporate worship, that's true.

We love this, don't we? Coming, seeing these students lead us in worship. What a wonderful experience it is. It's tremendous.

But this is not just for an hour, is it? Living in the presence of God. We are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all mind and strength, and love our neighbor as ourself. Praying without ceasing, so that every situation, everything centers on Christ. What would you have me to do?

You know, if you love someone, you want to be with them. In our home, in our bedroom, there's a couple of chairs. On the other night, about an hour or so before we were going to bed, Goodney disappeared and I came through. There she's sitting in one of the chairs reading. I'd like to say she's reading her Bible, but I'm not sure. And I'm not going to ask her, but she was reading. And I was in my study reading, and I brought my book, and I sat down on the other chair beside her, and she looked at me and said, what are you doing here? I said, I'm just going to sit here. I didn't go there for some weighty conversation or some casual conversation.

It's just this. And if you're married, you know what I'm talking about. Just being in the presence of someone you love is a wonderful experience, isn't it? You could go for a walk alone and enjoy, but that walk, the enjoyment of the walk is increased when you have someone walking beside you.

Even if there's no conversation, their very presence means something, doesn't it? This is what it is to be a follower of Christ. And wherever I go, whatever I do, Christ is by my side.

He's holding my hand. I'm about to make a decision, and I'm talking to the Lord about it. I'm attacked by the enemy, and I take it to the Lord. I'm living in His presence. I'm living in the presence of someone I love, and when I keep my eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, I will walk in the paths of righteousness. We thought last Sunday that Jesus is the light of the world, and if I follow Him, I will not walk in darkness, but will have a life of light.

How wonderful! Praying without ceasing. You know, on one occasion, Jesus said in John chapter 15, a great passage on the true vine, He said to them in verse 14 to His disciples, you are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends. There were some men in the Bible who described as friends of God. It's one thing to serve the Lord. The servant does what the master tells them. That's wonderful.

That's wonderful. We are servants of God. But here's another truth as we think of praying without ceasing that I am God's friend.

We sometimes sing what a friend we have in Jesus. Do you like spending time with your friends? When it's a friend, you don't hurry up, do you, the conversation? When a friend says to you, well, I'm going to tell you something and I'm going to make a long story short, you say, no, no, no. Don't make it short. I want to hear the details.

I want to hear this. A friend, a communion, an atmosphere of love, to have a love for the Lord Jesus. Yes, to do what He commands, Jesus is saying, but I'm calling you my friends.

It would be wonderful if we were friends of God, friends of Jesus. Now, what's the procedure in the spiritual warfare? Number one, verse 10, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. You need and I need and Calvary Church needs the Lord's strength.

We've got gifts, we've got abilities, we've got resources. They really mean nothing if we don't have the power of God and the strength of God. Secondly, verse 11, put on the whole armor of God.

Think of it. The belt of truth. The breastplate of righteousness. Our shoes ready for the Gospel. That magnificent shield of faith to extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. The helmet of salvation. And of course, the wonderful sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You take it all up, take it all on.

Every part of it you need. What am I to do then? Ephesians 6, verse 13. I love this. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done it all, to stand firm. Stand.

Therefore, stand. You're strong in the Lord. You put on the armor of God. The enemy is now attacking you and what you do, you stand firm. We do not retreat as a church. When criticized, persecuted, when the enemy attacks us, we do not go into retreat.

There's no retreat in the Christian faith. We stand firm. Standing firm against demonic opposition. When the devil attacks you, stand. James says, resist the devil. What will he do? He'll flee from you.

Don't be afraid. Greater is he who's in us than he who's in the world. And the enemy attacks the church of Jesus Christ. The forces of hell prevail against it. Demonic opposition comes against us as we stand true to the gospel, as we boldly proclaim the gospel, as we live a holy life, we stand firm against the enemy.

Now, how do we do it? Verse 18. There's two participles. Praying and keeping. In the ESV, the second participle, keeping, is translated almost as a command, and I suppose you can take it that way. But as we put on the armor of God, I am to do this with prayer. I'm to do it keeping alert. The old King James says, watching. I'm to be vigilant.

I'm not to be lethargic, I'm not to be slothful. I am to do this praying without ceasing as I put on this armor and being alert. So brothers and sisters, when you put on that armor of God, it's essential. You're praying in the Spirit, and you're keeping alert. And the wonderful thing is this, our heavenly Father loves to answer our prayer.

When we're praying without ceasing and haven't gone into the content of the prayer, there's a multitude of things we pray for, and Paul tells us that our great God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. What are we praying for as a church? What do we expect Calvary Church to do in 2022? What do we expect through missions? What do we expect through our children's ministry, youth ministry? What do we expect, what are we looking for in our worship?

What are we looking for in these Bible studies? The forces of darkness are against us, but God is able to do far more abundantly than anything we ask or think. Praying without ceasing.

Now look at verse 18. Praying at all times. That's persistent and consistent prayer. In every situation, give yourself to prayer. The difficulty in your marriage, the problem at work, a difficult person as you're ministering here who's upsetting you a little bit, everything is taken to the Lord in prayer.

Not as a formality, but as a necessity. Praying, says Paul, again verse 18, at all times our spiritual battle is a reality. The devil can attack you at any moment. Pray at all times. Pray without ceasing.

Pray, says Paul, in the Spirit. Perhaps he's also referring to praying the very Word of God as our enemy attacks. It's one of the things we do in our battle.

Isn't it the enemy attacks? What do we do? We quote Scripture. That's what the Lord did. Praying in the Spirit. This is not mechanically saying a prayer. This is not through a liturgy. This is praying in the power of the Spirit and as led by the Spirit. You know the difference between going through the routine of a prayer as opposed to praying when you're aware of the very presence of God, that you're broken before God, that you're pleading with God, that you need His power, His help, His wisdom, His strength, His comfort in the spiritual warfare.

Remember Paul says in Romans 8, something wonderful, that there are times you've experienced it, I've experienced it. There's times in our Christian life when we can hardly pray. We're so broken. We hardly know what to say. We're tired. We're exhausted. And Paul says that the Spirit makes intercession for us.

Isn't that wonderful? That God, the great God, the triune God helps us as we pray. And of course our Mediator, our Advocate is none other than our magnificent Lord Jesus Christ. Now again notice verse 18, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert again. Keep alert. Remember Jesus says, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Watch out. The devil's after you, young man, young woman. A few minutes ago you're up here leading us in worship.

How wonderful. Watch the devil. Be alert. He's cunning. He'll try and bring you down. The very time you're on a mountaintop with the Lord, He'll try and hurl a fiery dart at you. Be alert.

Be alert. Then says Paul, with all perseverance. Easy to get discouraged in a Christian life, isn't it? This spiritual warfare is not some momentary skirmish.

No, it's a battle. But those who persevere in prayer are strong in the Lord, and they're victorious in the spiritual battle. Those who wait for the Lord, that's prayer, isn't it? Those who wait for the Lord, as Isaiah says, shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall walk and not be weary. They shall run and not faint. You feel like fainting? You feel like giving up?

Don't do that. Persevere. And says Paul here in verse 18, making supplication for all the saints. We need to support one another. We need to be aware of one another's needs. There are people in this congregation, as we know, they're going through very difficult circumstances.

Stop just being involved in your own little family, in your own little unit. Pray for all of the saints. There's people who are fallen who need to be restored.

There are those who are fiercely tempted. There are students going back to college. There are people who are in bereavement. There are people who are lonely.

There are people who are depressed. Pray for all of the saints. Think of our missionaries that we are praying for all of the saints. Paul says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

What am I saying today? I'm saying that prayer was central to the early church. They gathered for prayer. They were united in prayer. They persevered in prayer. They saw the supernatural work of God in prayer. They bathed their missionary enterprise in prayer. They appointed godly leaders in prayer. They saw their fellow believers kept safe from persecution through prayer. Prayer without ceasing is to be our pattern for 2022.

Wouldn't it be wonderful? At the end of this year someone could truly say Calvary Church was devoted to prayer. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes, man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God. Let's be at our greatest.

Let's be at our highest. Let's be on our knees before the very face of God. Brothers and sisters, as your pastor I'm asking us to pray without ceasing. Now a decade ago, as long ago as that, we began what we called the Watchman Prayer Ministry.

And some of you have been part of that faithfully for 10 years. You say, what is the Watchman Prayer? Well as you came in, some of you missed it, we have a prayer wall.

Four walls. And when we instituted this 10 years ago so that people would be praying for the pastors and the ministries of Calvary Church, we asked people to sign up to choose a day and a time when they would pray. Now the 3 a.m. on Thursday mornings didn't fill up too quickly. But you chose what time you would pray. We asked you to pray for an hour for the ministries of Calvary Church and then every month we've sent you through email the prayer requests I would give, four prayer requests, four praises. Jim Pyle, Tim Hathaway, our pastors would do the same. The ministries would ask you to pray.

That's a wonderful ministry. And I just read this week that in 2007, 18% of Americans said that they seldom or never prayed. The Pew Research Center has done a recent survey and they've said that now 32% of Americans say that they never or seldom pray. That's a third of our population never pray.

Now I trust that's not true at Calvary Church. I trust that we're all praying. And so we've revised Watchman prayer. Perhaps it was becoming a little cumbersome.

Perhaps we got into a routine. And so we have revised it. And instead of giving four or five requests, each pastor, each ministry leader, will give one central one, an item of praise and an item of prayer. So I might ask you to pray for me as I preach the Word of God during January. Or I may ask pray for verdict or something like that. And each pastor would do the same.

And you, if you want to do this and I'm asking you to do it, you will get every month, just in one page, a list, a short list of prayer and praises. So the old Watchman prayer, we're not burying it as it were. This is a rebranding. Think how cool we are. We rebrand. Just thought of that. We are rebranding Watchman prayer. Now, in front of you, just stretch out and get it. There's this card. That's right.

Is it time for action? Do you see it? Watchman prayer ministry. And you can sign up a couple of ways. We have on it a QR code. Do you know what a QR code is? The cool people know what it is.

I saw the thing. You go into a restaurant, don't you? And you get your phone and it's just a real problem. I prefer the old card. But if you're much cooler than me, you can use the QR code.

I tried it and I was totally confused. So if you do that, just use the card. Just fill it up right now. You can do it in a minute. Don't worry about the date.

We know what the date is. Your name, your address, and so on. And then you're going to put that in the basket as you leave.

If you've got your phone, you want to do the QR code, just do that and follow whatever it says. If you get lost in cyberspace, Pastor Pyle will be able to help you out. I want all of our members, all of our regular attenders, I'd like you to do this. But only do it if you are, through this year, going to pray without ceasing. One of the great privileges I have as your pastor, that so many of you have said, John, we're praying for you. Do you know how the tremendous responsibility is to stand up here and open this book? Week after week after week.

The weight of it. Could you think of our missionaries? There's the chapels in Papua New Guinea, living in a tribe translating the Word of God. Don't think they need our prayers. Here's Pastor Hathaway, having the weighty responsibility of leading our worship. Thank you for praying. Thank you for, as a word, lifting up our hands. You say, well, you're capable men, you've done it before, you're gifted.

That may be true. We're not talking about gift. We're not talking about natural ability. We're talking about the supernatural power of God to save souls. The supernatural power to give us holy boldness in a world in crisis. Will you fill this up now?

Right now? The QR code. I have no idea what that stands for. Somebody's going to tell me. What does it stand for, Stephanie? QR? It apparently goes to the website, but I still don't know what QR stands for.

Who cares, right? Fill up the card and pray without ceasing. Those of you at home, quarantined, ill, pray. Use that time when you're off work, not just to watch Netflix, but use that time to pray. To open your Bible and pray.

Jesus, set times apart to pray. Father, what a privilege we have to come to you, the living God. Help us. We need your help as a church. Protect us from the virus. Give us a holy boldness. Give us a spiritual unity. Increase our love for one another. May we truly be a light shining in this community, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.